Josh Vernier

Royals Fall, Offense Absent

-Royals (0-2) drop the series in Chicago, losing for the second straight game, 5-2.

-Ervin Santana was...well...Ervin Santana in his Royals debut. He continued his tremendous strikeout-to-walk ratio from spring, striking out eight White Sox hitters and allowing only one walk.

-Santana allowed 39 home runs a season ago, and picked up right where he left off. He surrendered a solo shot to Adam Dunn in the second, another first-pitch home run to Tyler Flowers in the third and a two-run shot to Dayan Viciedo in the fourth. The Viciedo bomb scored Adam Dunn, who walked earlier in the inning. I must give credit to Alex Gordon who showed incredible hustle by climbing the wall, reaching over and having the ball tip off his glove and clearing the fence.

-Santana's final line showed six innings of work, four runs on five hits, eight strikeouts and one walk.

-The Royals got the first run of the season in third inning, down 1-0. Chris Getz (0-for-2) reached on an error by the shortstop. After Alex Gordon (1-for-4) flied out, Alcides Escobar (1-for-4) reached second base on a fly ball that was dropped after Viciedo and shortstop Alexei Ramirez ran into one another. The dropped ball allowed Getz to get from first to home, tying the game at one.

-KC's second run game in the sixth inning. The Royals trailed 4-1 when Gordon led off the inning with a double to left. Escobar's ground-out moved him to third, and then a routine ground-out by Billy Butler (0-for-4) scored Gordon.

-The Royals offense had its best chance to tie the game up in the seventh inning. Eric Hosmer (0-for-4) reached on another dropped fly ball, this time by Dwayne Wise in left field. Lorenzo Cain (1-for-4) moved Hosmer to third on a base hit to right field. After a Jeff Francoeur (0-for-4) strikeout, Miguel Tejada (0-for-0) pinch hit for Getz and walked. The bases were loaded with only one out, but Gordon flew out to left and Escobar flew out to right, ending the threat.

-Chicago tacked on another run in the seventh, a solo home run from Ramirez on the second pitch from Luke Hochevar. It was Hochevar's first appearance out of the pen since 2010 and he was lucky to say the least. Following the home run, the righty allowed a single, a walk, and then a sacrifice bunt from Alejandro De Aza that put runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. A passed ball allowed Flowers to attempt to steal home, but a quick play from Salvador Perez (1-for-4) stopped him at the plate. Hochevar ended the inning with a fly ball to right.

-The biggest disappointment from these first two games, in my opinion, has been the lack of production from the 3-4-5 hitters. Butler, Moustakas and Perez are a combined 4-for-23. The team is 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position.